i'll tell you what, norah, i'm encouraged to hear overnight that president obama and speaker boehner have decided they are going to sit down and try to negotiate this out quietly and confidentially. that's the way we used to do it. that's the way ronald reagan did it with tip o'new'neilwe o'neil. back in 1982 or '83. we had private meetings actually in the basement of my home in washington. nobody knew about them. we were free to give and take and put things on the table without fear that would be used politically against us. same thing for the democrats. that's what we need to get back to. we need something in the nature, norah, of a grand bargain, along the lines of the simpson bowles proposal, something that has everything on the table and that cuts spending and increases revenue. and we've got to do it. the country is in extraordinarily bad shape economically. >> secretary baker, do you believe that the republicans should be willing to concede on the question of raising the rates on the wealthy? >> i don't think they should be willing to concede on that any more than the democrat